2012-08-02 - Metal Trails Interview
Dead by April was interviewed on August 01, 2012 by the German music nagazine Metal Trails.com (published on Augsut 26, 2012). The interview took place after the bands show at Wacken, and the entire band except Alexander participated. The main topic discussed were the sound of the band and live shows. The interview was done by Arne Kowalewski. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEeDO3dgmTQ Script Q: How does it feel to play the biggest metal festival ever? Jimmie Strimell: Feels amazing, the crowd was unbelievable. Q: How has your arrival been? Any problems, stressed, or is it all just relaxed and your enjoying the day? Zandro Santiago: Right now I’m just enjoying the day and we’re really happy with our performance. Q: Generally, Wacken seems to have opened up for new cross over genres the past years. Do you think it would have been possible for bands like you to play here for 10 or 20 years ago? Jimmie Strimell: I don’t think there were bands like us 20 years ago. I don’t know. Q: When you say there haven’t been bands like you. What are bands like you? Jimmie Strimell: I don’t know really, we have a big mix between everything like pop, boy band, metal. So I can’t really compare any other bands with Dead by April. It’s hard. Q: It seems to be a common job for bands today to mix certain genres into something new. Why is there that need to mix genres? ''' '''Jimmie Strimell: We wants to do great music that we love, it doesn’t matter if it's pop or if it’s boy band or if it’s metal. Just mix everything and make it really good. Q: What has been the hardest part in creating your very own music style? Jimmie Strimell: I think you should ask Pontus. Pontus Hjelm: Well, it’s not hard at all. We just decided to bring everything we like, and bring all into one song. That eventually formed Dead by April. It’s not hard at all. Music as a whole needs to be, at least to me, it's all about freedom. Q: Are your music still in development, are you planning to create something even newer, or is it more about sticking to the way it is right now? Pontus Hjelm: I think it's too early to answer the question actually, we’ll have to see. Q: You say you’re often treated like a boy group, would you agree that your main audience is females, or does men come to your concert to? Jimmie Strimell: I think it’s about 50/50. Q: Do you notices any difference in people coming to your concert and people coming to a festival like Wacken, who maybe just by accident sees you, just because they’re here? Jimmie Strimell: Yeah, maybe people are interested to see something new and see if they likes it. I think festivals are a good place to play for us. Q: Do you prefer festivals or club concerts? ''' '''Pontus Hjelm: That’s very hard. I like both, equally. This is fun, but it’s a lot of fun to play at a club as well. Q: Critics tends to say that your music is very catchy in a commercial way. What would you say about that? It’s a quite tough one, right? Pontus Hjelm: They’re welcome. Anyone is allowed to say anything they like. There’s nothing strange about that. Zandro Santiago: Isn’t it a good thing to have a catchy song? Q: Would you say it’s a good thing? Zandro Santiago: I like catchy songs. Jimmie Strimell: It’s a very good thing. Zandro Santiago: I don’t think that is criticism in a bad way. I see it as something good. Q: A lot of people tends to say that just because it’s commercial it’s shit, it’s not a fair thing to say, but it happens right? Jimmie Strimell: We should start making bad music instead and people would be happy. Q: Maybe, maybe it’s worth a try. ''' '''Pontus Hjelm: I don’t understand the commercial thing. But still, everyone is allowed to say anything they want. We’re still gonna play our music. Q: Many people say that you sound much heavier on stage compared to your albums, would you agree with that and why? ''' '''Jimmie Strimell: I agree with that. We decided to make that, to make the gig even more intense. Pontus Hjelm: It’s a lot of energy; it’s a lot of things you don’t get when you don’t listen to an album. You get to see the entire performance in a different way. Q: It’s more energetic. Marcus Wesslén: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s hard to compare the CD and a live show. So in a live show, of course it’s more powerful and heavier and all that. Q: As I’ve seen in your concert, you’re always quite close with your audience. Always interacting, playing with them. Has there ever been an experience that was quite devastating with fans that maybe went too far? Jimmie Strimell: I got a snuff thrown at my face. Pontus Hjelm: People coming up on stage as well. They are drunk and are like falling on the mics or the drums or whatever, so that is always strange to experience. Zandro Santiago: There’s a lot of grabbing in the nuts, as well. That’s not ok. It’s nice to interact and like hug each other or sing together but the grabbing in the nuts and the falling over a drum kit is not so good. Q: But you prefer to not have distance to the audience? Jimmie Strimell: I think it’s nice to be close to the audience, as long as they behave. Q: Do they behave most of the times or is it the opposite? Jimmie Strimell: Yeah, they behave most of the times. Pontus Hjelm: The times they don’t behave they’re crushed by the guards. That’s sad, but that’s the way it is. Q: Generally, what makes a successful day for you? Jimmie Strimell: Yeah, I’m over excited. Zandro Santiago: What was the question? Q: What makes a successful day for you? Jimmie Strimell: The sun makes a good day for me. ' Q: So if it starts raining now it’s a bad day?' Jimmie Strimell: Yes. Really bad day. Pontus Hjelm: A great day is hanging around in my studio and coming home to my girlfriend and just being allowed to be really. Just in the sofa, watching TV or whatever. Q: Is it a hard life being away from the people you love when you’re on tour all the time? Pontus Hjelm: You need to sacrifice a lot of things for this life. But I’m lucky today, my girlfriend is here, so I’m glad, and I’ll meet her on Sunday as well. Q: Generally, what’s up next for the band, what can we expect in the future? Jimmie Strimell: Hopefully we’re gonna go to America. We don’t know yet, but hopefully. Q: If that happens, what are your expectations for that? Zandro Santiago: Yes, we did a gig in New York on Manhattan in June and I say that the oversea audience is a little bit different. Q: In what way? Zandro Santiago: It’s hard to explain, but they are more close to their feelings or something like that. Q: Why do you think it’s different that in Europe? Zandro Santiago: I think it’s the mentality. Jimmie Strimell: American’s have been waiting for us for four years. So when we got there they were really happy and excited to see us. Q: So you would have liked to go their earlier but you didn’t have the possibility to so? Jimmie Strimell: Yeah, exactly. Q: How far are you allowed to decide about where you are gonna play? Jimmie Strimell: We are in, what is it call, negotiation? Pontus Hjelm: Ultimately, we decided where we want to go of course. If we don’t want to do a show or a tour, we won’t do it. But sometimes we decide with our management and bookers, sometimes even our label are involved with different shows. But ultimately, if we don’t want do it, we won’t. Jimmie Strimell: I have to say that we love Germany. I think we’ve been here on two tours before and the audience are amazing. Zandro Santiago: We did a gig last night in Munich that was amazing. Q: Some bands have a problem with getting known in their home country and might get famous in other countries. Do you have a problem in your own country? Jimmie Strimell: No, we have a lot of fans in our home country. Pontus Hjelm: Actually we just sold platinum, our Mystery song sold Gold and Platinum in Sweden. That was a lot of fun. Q: How much do you care for those awards, so to speak? Pontus Hjelm: I think its fun; it’s a lot of fun. Q: Some confirmation that what you are doing actually is good? Pontus Hjelm: What’s good and right for us is what decides what’s good and right for us. But obviously there are more people than us that appreciate what we are doing. Notes *It's very obvious in this interview that the band does not speak English.